Living Philosophy

Many people are not interested in ideas or philosophy because it is too abstract; they may even find philosophical ideas interesting but have no desire to explore those ideas because they believe there is no practical use for them.

However, philosophy is very practical, even if it is not always easy. Firstly, all people are philosophers, whether they know it, or like it, or not. If you have ever thought about god or what comes after death then you have philosophized. (To be specific you have explored the field of metaphysics.) As well, if you have ever thought about what is right or wrong, that is also philosophy (ethics).

But what do we philosophers do about the ideas we come up with? What would anyone really do with my idea that happiness is not worth striving for or that greatness comes out of failure? It is actually quite simple: philosophical ideas are applied to everyday life through symbols. It can be an incredibly difficult thing to carry out, but the concept is simple.

Here is an example: Christianity is a philosophical idea and contains a philosophical moral code. So, to apply this philosophical idea to real life a Christian may try to love his or her neighbour, or be friendly and helpful to those who need it. Doing this at all times brings an abstract philosophical idea into the real world.

Another example: let’s say a man decides he wants to overcome his fear, either of a specific thing or simply as a general part of his life. “Overcoming fear” is a pretty abstract concept, however the solution is simple (but difficult). Anytime that man is faced with what scares him he must confront it instead of quietly avoiding the source of fear or flat out refusing to face it. For me at least, it sounds so simple it’s cliché.

To make the philosophical ideas that we have relevant to real life all you need to do is act in ways that symbolize the concept. It can be difficult to figure out what those symbols are, and it is even harder to act them out, but if you can do that day-by-day then you can use philosophy to alter and improve yourself, your life and the world around you.